Cynthia Werner - Anthropology 210-502

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Cynthia Werner
Assistant Professor

Email:	werner@tamu.edu
Phone:	(979) 847-9254
Office:	224 Anthropology

Social And Cultural Anthropology Anthropology 210 (502)
Course Overview

Course Syllabus

Course Description:

This course has several objectives. One objective is to introduce the major issues and the historical trends within the discipline of cultural anthropology. A second objective is to examine which aspects of human social life are universally shared and which are culturally specific. A final objective is to teach students the value of an anthropological perspective for understanding cultural diversity. Students who achieve this objective will learn to critically evaluate the criteria they use to distinguish "Us" from the "Other."

Requirements:

Class attendance & participation, ethnography study questions, a course journal, reading assignments, 2 exams, final exam.

Texts:*

Katherine Dettwyler, Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa, Waveland, Prospect Heights, IL.
Martha Ward, Nest in the Wind: Adventures in Anthropology on a Tropical Island, Waveland Press.
Barbara West, The Danger is Everywhere! The Insecurity of Transition in Postsocialist Hungary, Waveland Press.

George Gmelch & Sharon Bohn Gmelch, The Parish Behind God's Back: The Changing Culture of Rural Barbados
Anth 489 – Course Reader (A selection of short articles, available at Notes & Quotes, 701 University Avenue, College Station, Texas).

Structure

Classes will be devoted to lectures and occasional movie presentations. An emphasis will be placed on the use of higher order thinking and reasoning in the acquisition and communication of new knowledge. You will be expected to critically read the assigned books and articles and analyze and synthesize this material in light of classroom lectures.

Grades:

This course has two midterm exams and one final exam. Each exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions from lectures, readings, and films. The midterm exams count for 15% of the grade. The final exam, which is comprehensive, counts for 20% of your grade. A set of study questions will be handed out for each ethnography (book). Each set of study questions counts for 10% of the course grade. Attendance and participation are required. Class participation involves more than good attendance. You need to be prepared to discuss the course readings as listed on the schedule.

Grade scale: 100-90: A, 89-80: B, 79-70: C, 69-60: D, 59-0: F

Schedule:

WEEK	TOPIC
Week 1	Introduction to the Course
	Anthropology and Cultural Relativism

Week 2	What Do Cultural Anthropologists Do? Slides: Fieldwork in Kazakhstan
	Defining Culture

Week 3	Early Theories in Anthropology
	Recent Theories in Anthropology

Week 4	Film: Margaret Mead and Samoa
	Film: Tales of the Human Dawn

Week 5	Social Organization and Kinship Ethnography Study Guide One (Ward) Due
	Midterm Exam One

Week 6	Kinship and Alliance Through Marriage
	Marriage, Households and Families

Week 7	Adaptive Strategies: Foraging
	Film: The Hunter

Week 8	Adaptive Strategies: Pastoralism Ethnography Study Guide Two (Gmelch) Due
	Adaptive Strategies: Horticulture and Agriculture

WEEK	TOPIC
Week 9	Exchange and Social Networks
	The World System and Global Poverty

Week 10	Midterm Exam Two
	Ethnicity, Nationalism and Race

Week 11	Social Construction of GenderI
	Anthropology of Religion Ethnography Study Guide Three (West) Due

Week 12	Language and Identity
	Film: American Tongues

Week 13	Anthropology, Development and Cultural Survival
	NO CLASS - Thanksgiving Break

Week 14	Anthropology of Tourism
	Anthropology and Advocacy

Week 15	Medical Anthropology Ethnography Study Guide Four (Dettwyler) Due

Week 16	Final Exam